Looking for the perfect sugar cookie recipe for cutouts? This is it! Delicious, mildly flavored, and they don't spread in the oven!

I know there are a lot of sugar cookie recipes floating around out there. And I know you probably have a tried-and-true sugar cookie recipe passed down from your great-great-grandma. But I’m telling you, you can throw those all in the trash, because this is the perfect sugar cookie recipe for cutouts.

I’ve been using this recipe for years, and it has never ever failed me. It results in soft, tender, fluffy cookies that don’t spread in the oven—making them absolutely perfect for cut-outs. And they have the most beautiful, mild vanilla flavor. I also have the perfect frosting that goes on top that ends up drying hard enough to pack these perfect frosted sugar cookies in a tin, but is still soft enough to bite into without chipping a tooth. And it shines so bright and glossy in the light. It makes for some obnoxiously pretty cookies. I mean, seriously, don’t you just want to dive into this cookie and go for a swim in the frosting? My husband says he wants to “Honey I Shrunk the Kids” himself and jump in and play with the sprinkles like beach balls.

There are some absolutely exquisite frosted sugar cookies out there, and I don’t even pretend to act like I can compete in that category. My piping skills tap out at frosting a cupcake. I actually just normally frost my sugar cookies using a popsicle stick (since I’m an adult now, I really should invest in a proper icing spatula). You could most definitely pipe this frosting on if that’s your (piping) bag, but I’ll stick to my lazy girl popsicle stick method for now, thank you very much. I normally make my frosting thick enough that it will stay on top of the cookie, but still thin enough that it will self-settle and dry with a smooth, bump-free top. It’s really the fool-proof way of frosting cookies.

I usually just flavor these cookies with high-quality vanilla extract (I say “high-quality” not because I’m an ingredient snob, but because you can really taste the flavor of the vanilla in these, so you want to make sure it’s something good), but you can easily go with other flavorings, too. Peppermint it delightful for the holidays. Almond and coconut are also both delicious.

In fact, I made a batch of these cookies for my co-workers one halloween (pumpkin and ghost-shaped, of course) and used almond flavoring, and I repeatedly had people stopping by my office telling me they were the best sugar cookies they’ve ever had. Most folks don’t expect an almond-flavored sugar cookie! It’s a really nice change of pace.

One caveat about this recipe: it makes a ton. Like a ton, a ton of cookies. Depending on the shape of your cookie cutter, I’d say you could get a good 5-7 dozen perfect frosted sugar cookies out of this recipe. If you’re baking for holiday tins, that isn’t too much, because you can just ship them off to your friends and family, but if you’re baking for everyday use, it’s a lot.

Of course, you could always divide the recipe, but my recommendation is to go ahead and make the whole recipe, divide it into four discs as the recipe calls for, and then freeze the discs. One disc of dough is the perfect amount for one “batch” of sugar cookies. It’s the just right amount if you just get the hankering to decorate some perfect frosted sugar cookies, but don’t want to devote hours and hours and hours.

I usually make up a full-sized batch of this dough twice a year—once at Christmas, and I use it all then, and then again for Valentine’s Day or Easter, but I freeze three of the discs. Then I pull them out again throughout the year at other holidays. Just let the disc defrost on the counter until it’s not hard anymore, and still a little cool. Then flour your work surface and roll out as normal. They always bake up and taste just as great as the fresh version does.

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If you’re a master sugar cookie baker, you know that the key to perfect frosted sugar cookies is watching the oven very carefully. You’ll see some sugar cookie recipes saying to bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes (or even more), and that’s great if you want a dry, crunchy cookie, but who wants a dry, crunchy cookie? No one. Sugar cookies bake fast. So fast that just a couple of degrees discrepancy in your oven can cause your cookies to go from soft and tender to hard as a rock in just a minute or two.

While I do provide a baking time as a general rule of thumb in the recipe below, I highly recommend that you go by appearance instead of time. Your cookies should be just the tiniest bit brown along the very edge of the cookie (right where it meets the pan). I’m not talking “golden brown”, I’m talking like you have to really squint to see it. And the top of the cookie should look solid, instead of jiggly. In most ovens, this happens between the 6-8 minute mark (yup, that fast!). In my last apartment, we had an oven that ran hot, no matter how low I turned it down, and my sugar cookies were almost always done at five minutes. Watch ’em.

And then, once they are done, you want to get them off the hot baking sheet as quickly as possible, because they’ll keep right on baking on that hot metal. I usually take a large thin spatula (I love using a fish spatula to get hot cookies off of baking sheets) to the cookies almost immediately after they get out of the oven. Then I transfer to cooling racks or paper towels to cool completely. And do make sure they are 100% cool before you frost. Any residual heat in the cookie will warm up the frosting and make it a gooey, runny mess. It’ll still be delicious, it just won’t look as nice.

For the Frosting

Instructions

In the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (like this one), cream together butter and sugar. Mix in eggs and extract until well-combined.

In a separate bowl, whisk together remainder of cookie ingredients. Add dry ingredients to wet in batches until combined.

Divide dough into quarters, form into discs, and wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 400°.

Removed one disc from fridge and roll out on floured surface until dough is 1/8″-1/4″ thick.

Cut with cookie cutter and baked on an ungreased cookie sheet for 6-8 minutes, watching closely. Cookies are done when bottoms are just barely golden brown. Let cool completely on wire racks before frosting. Make sure cookie sheets are cool to touch before place more cookie dough on them.

I can not wait to try out these cookies and the icing. Sugar cookies decorated by kiddos has been a holiday tradition my whole life. As an adult I’ve been on the search for the perfect recipe…for cookies and glaze…for years…(I switched to glaze a few years back, my mom was horrified at 1st lol. The kids can’t pile it on though, so I don’t end up with 6″ frosted cookies that don’t stack, and were sickening to eat!)

I’m making these tonight with my kids. How long does it take for the icing to dry? I know my kids will want to eat some so I’m trying to see how long they will need to wait. I’ve never made cookies and icing like this so this is new to me lol

These look amazing! Although, I tried to make them and after 2.5 hours in the fridge by the time I rolled them out and got cookie cutters in them (5 mins MAX!) they were so soft they were unuseable. I had to ball up and roll in sugar as the frosting… Any suggestions?? I’m so confused!

I made the dough yesterday and baked and decorated these tonight. I did have to use quite a bit of flour to roll out the dough. It was worth it though. They are delicious and the icing is gorgeous! Thanks!

This is identical to “The Best Rolled Sugar Cookies” Recipe on allrecipes.com, but for the amount of extract (1.5 teaspoons vs. 1.). I’ve made those cookies and they are incredible. Are your recipes original or adapted from other chefs’ recipes?

Hi Erinn! I’ve been making this sugar cookie recipe long before I had a blog, and quite honestly, I forgot the original source because I just have it jotted down on a slip of paper in my recipe book. Thank you for figuring it out! I’ll adapt the recipe to reflect the original source.

And if you poke around, you’ll notice the vast majority of my recipes are original creations, and the ones I do adapt from other folks are clearly identified as so. Thanks for reading!

These were AMAZING! I made a batch with vanilla extract and a batch with almond extract. They were a huge hit at my Christmas party! My favorite and the favorite of the guests were the ones with almond extract. DELICIOUS!!!

I’m assuming that frosting recipe is matched to the whole cookie recipe in terms of quantity … have you had any success with storing the frosting, like in the fridge or freezer? I’m trying to bake off one of the “discs” of dough and frost them and then in the next several days (or even next week) use the other three discs, and it’d be great if the frosting could be saved and parceled out, too.

Also …. baked, frosted, and in tins, how long do these guys stay good for?

I wish the website would load in a timely manner.. I could not even see the recipe due to so many ads in the page…the page never loaded. I could only see this post comment section. Do you have a pinterest? or facebook?

Just made these with my 2 year old daughter. We had so much fun and they were so easy to make. Thank You so much this recipe is a keeper! I will be making more of these throughout the holidays. Tweak: I l let the dough discs chill overnight to make it easier to roll out. Something I learned: Don’t over mix the dough it will get very gooey lol. -found on pinterest

I am excited to try out this recipe this week! However, I know you said it makes a lot of cookies, but what size cookie cutter do you have? I plan on using a cutter that is approximately 5″ x 3″ big. And I wanted to make my cookies about 1/4 -1/2 an inch thick. How many dozens should I get with this dough? Thanks!

Hi Lucy – that happened to me also. I wonder if we both were using self rising flour? I transfer my flour from the bag into a container so I cant be sure if that is what the issue is, however, I did notice on a different recipe it specifically said not to use self rising flour.. I did decorate mine using the frosting to show the detail of the cut out. This is a great frosting recipe; I ended up using about 4-5 Tbls of milk; I find a tin inner frosting spreads best

Hi! I commented last year and I’m back to say we made the icing and cookies exactly as the recipe is written. (Vanilla for both). They were perfect. I baked all of them, decorated mine and divided the rest into large to go containers. Later that week I took half to my moms and half to my in-laws for our ladies/kids baking nights, and they were still perfect. Kids and adults had a blast decorating them! The glaze hardens perfectly for stacking and giving. Thank you! I will be making these cookies and the glaze again this year for all 3 places!!

I got so excited to use my paddle attachment that I forgot to add the third stick of butter. The dough still seemed to be the right consistency and tasted delish, but will it ruin my results? I have never done that before! Thanks! :)

Hi Cassie!
I’m planning on making these cookies for friday and just had a question. From past experiences I have always found to never halve a recipe, only because it doesn’t always turn out. Since I don’t need THAT many cookies i’ll take your advice and freeze some of the dough. Could you tell me how long it will keep in the freezer? Thank you!

Sugar is an excellent preservative, so just as long as you keep it protected from freezer burn (I’d recommend wrapping each disc in plastic wrap, and then placing them in a freezer zip-top bag with the air squeezed out), I’d say indefinitely! But at least six months.

I have made 2 batches of these cookies so far and they are being eaten as fast as I can make them. All of a sudden my boys are coming to see Mom all the time! LOL I also have some dough frozen for Valentine’s Day.
Thank you for sharing.

I just pulled my first batch out of the oven and you were right, you really have to watch them! My oven also runs hot and it only took 5 minutes for my cookies to be perfect looking! I decided to do this as a project with my daughter and we can’t wait to frost them and eat them! Thank you for this wonderful recipe!

Hi,
I have never made sugar cookies before and I want to try your recepie. I don’t have a stand mixer though. Would a hand held mixer work just as well? I’m trying to make these for my daughter birthday.

I am too looking forward to making these cookies! Quick question about the icing, do you use a gel food coloring or a liquid food coloring? Im not sure if one of the other would change the consistency of the icing?

I found these on pinterest. FABULOUS!
I switched out margarine for the butter and salt.
A little more economical and still so tender.
Didn’t try the icing. I always make royal icing from the wilton website.

These cookies are delicious! Eat them with or without frosting, either way they’re yummy!!

I made the dough yesterday and left it overnight in the fridge. Rolled and cut out the cookies today and it made 70 cookies. They cooked very well and evenly. Six minutes and they were perfect.

The frosting was delicious too! I did make one slight alteration by adding in 3 tablespoons of heavy whipping cream and 1 tablespoon of milk. The frosting was shiny, easy to spread on the cookie without any stickiness or breaking of the cookies.

you cookies look great, I have been looking for the perfect sugar cookie recipe. mine always come out plain tasting and gummy. I think the gummy is from under cooking but no matter how much vanilla it still taste plain and even bitter after. any advice?

I made a ‘test’ batch that made about 2 dozen cookies that turned out great! Will definitely keep your recipe for Valentines Day and every other upcoming event just to have an excuse to make more!
My daughter lives out of state and would love to send some to her. She usually gets mail from me within 2 days. I like to use royal icing so they will be decorated using that instead. How long will these last one I bake/decorate so I know how long she has to enjoy them?

I made these last night and I think you have revolutionized my sugar cookie baking…

I had NO idea that sugar cookies baked so fast. I have tried many recipes over the years and was always disappointed that the cookies turned out crunchy. My thought now is that it wasn’t the recipe… it was me. I was overcooking them.

Following your advice, I watched these cookies like a hawk. Sure enough, they were done at the 5 min mark. I left some in for 7 just for comparison sake and they were way too hard.

Thank you SO much.

I’m frosting the 70 or so cookies tonight with your recipe for my son’s class Valentine Party. Can you put the frosting in a piping bag? How does it hold up?

I made these at Christmas minus the icing. I use melted candy melts to frost my sugar cookies. These were good even without frosting. I just made some for Valentine’s and will make more at Easter. Love this recipe!! Thank you!!

I love this recipe. I have baked them today (Friday) for a party on Sunday. They are wonderful!! Will they still be fresh for Sunday? I will be icing them this evening, what would be the best way to store the iced cookies once they have dried on the counter? I am concerned about the milk in the icing and them being left out of the fridge?

They’ll definitely be fine for Sunday. I would put them in layers (with parchment or wax paper between) in an airtight container. I keep mine out on the counter, because sugar is an excellent preservative, but if that makes you nervous, the fridge is fine.

Dear Cassie, I’m looking for a cookie with a slightly crisp exterior, soft interior and will stay soft inside, and keeps shape while baking. Is this the one? Why the high oven temp 400 degrees? What level should my oven rack be set so the top or bottoms don’t burn? By the way, I enjoy your blog. Thanks for such helpful info for us new bakers.

This is the cookie you’re looking for then! The high oven temp cooks the outside of the cookie quickly, while still leaving the inside nice and soft. Put you oven rack in the middle of the ocen, and you should be good. :)

Oh, By the way… With 3 sticks of butter, have you ever had a problem with greasy baked cookies. What difference would 1/2 shortening/butter make in the final product? or would that make a greasy cookie?

How does the frosting stand up in the fridge? I wont have time to frost the cookies after I make them and would like to make thefrosting ahead of time or should I just wait? thank you and LOVE this recipe. Never have made your icing tho.

Made a batch of these yesterday with my almost-3 year old! We colored some red, some green and left the rest as is. The cut-out part is going to take awhile – but halfway finished and we’ve got probably 6 dozen already? We love this cookie! Will continue making it. It is just soft enough and not terribly sweet. Icing party with friends this weekend and sharing with friends!.

I’m pretty new at this baking thing (second year of doing the Christmas cookies) and came across your recipe. When I made the batter it reminded me of a bread batter but tried using it anyway. My wife got home shortly after I started and suggested I add more flour. I ended up putting 2 more cups in in order to get the right consistency (according to my wife). Do you have any idea what I could’ve done wrong to require so much more flour?

HI! I was looking for the perfect sugar cookie cut out recipe to make on Christmas Eve and voila! Yours turned up!!
But I really only need a small batch. . . do you think it would work to cut the recipe in half?

I am about to make this. Is it okay if i use vanilla extract? and is it okay if i half the recipe to make about 36 cookies or would that not be good? Corn syrup and hand mixing is also okay right? Instead of honey and the electrical mixer

I make sugar cookies as gifts every year and will definitely try your recipe. How about re-rolling the dough? Once you cut, can the leftover trimmings from around the cut-outs be re-rolled to be cut again?

Just made these. They turned out great. I put in 1/2 Cup more flour and didn’t have to refrigerate them before rolling out. The cookies turned out soft and the frosting dried nicely so I could stack them.

I love this recipe, perfect cookies and frosting. Yummy! My husband teaches a youth bible study group and once a month or more he brings them a treat (that I make). He always asks for requests. One girl wanted sugar cookies but no frosting (boring?) I used this recipe then using my cookie scoop scooped out balls which I then rolled in white sugar. I put the balls on my parchment covered cookie sheet then used he bottom of a glass to smash them flat. They turned out super yummy with slight carmalized sugar on top.

I will be making these cookies for my grandsons to decorate. My one grandson is allergic to dairy products. I googled substituting the butter for butter flavor Crisco. Hopefully they will turn out OK. I also add just a pinch of orange rind. Your recipe sounds wonderful. Hope you answer soon as I am making them in the morning. Thanks!!!

That countertop is GORGEOUS!! I’m going to try this recipe later today with my 2 & 4 year old. Can we do something about the printing, though? Can the whole recipe be on 1 page instead of 2 full… 3 pages if including a dot on the last. Or is it just my printer?

Easy and delicious sugar cookie. Followed recipe exactly and I was able to get 6 dozen cookies. Cookies held their shape too. They baked for nearly 9 minutes in my oven so the recipe’s tip to “watch them” is a good one because ovens vary greatly. One thing to note about the frosting/icing. The recipe for the icing will only ice one disk, not all four. I figured that was the case when the recipe called for only 2 cups of powder sugar but I followed the recipe exactly and was only able to ice the cookies I made with one disc of dough. Also my icing was pretty runny so I had to add more powdered sugar (and even then it was still funnier than I prefer). Also, it dries really fast so if you plan to add sprinkles or icing sugars, do them right after icing the cookie. Overall, a good sugar cookie recipe that I’m sure I will use again!

Have used this recipe several times the past few years. It’s fantastic!

I keep getting hung up on how to store the cookies however. I usually bake the cookies and then ice them and decorate them the next day.

What is the best way to store the iced cookies? How long does it typically take them to dry?

I like to put the cookies in the little cellophane bags and tie them with a bow. I’ve had trouble with the cookies sticking to the inside of the bag because they weren’t quite dry. Can they sit out overnight, frosted, to dry and be packaged the next morning or would that make the cookies stale?

Wow…love this recipe!!! I stopped making roll out sugar cookies because I hated how they came out and were too time consuming. I’ve made these at least 3 times for different events in the last month. Thank you!!!

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